OpenBSD's PF packet filter has grown in power and appeal since its introduction in OpenBSD 3.0. With the imminent release of OpenBSD 3.5, Federico Biancuzzi interviewed several leading OpenBSD developers for their thoughts on PF and new features.

"The primary drawback to ksh has been that it was proprietary. This has recently changed however. The new AT&T open source license allows ksh source and binaries to be shipped as part of the system and is now just beginning to start showing up in Linux systems; for example the latest slackware."

"TrustedBSD and SELinux are similar in many ways, and also differ in many ways. The similarities lie in overlapping functionality and architectural goals; the differences only begin with the choice of operating systems ... SELinux differs from TrustedBSD in that it is a more mature system, having been worked on for several years, that it addresses only mandatory access controls, and that it uses the Flask architecture rather than explicit hard-coded policies."

Larry discusses a wide range of topics, including his job at O'Reilly, Perl certification, the commercialization of Perl, competition between open source projects, the power of laziness, Perl 6, post-modernism, software patents, documentation, and more.

An open source database called MySQL is quickly emerging as a cheap, yet highly functional, alternative to proprietary databases offered by major vendors such as Oracle and Informix. Yet, many in the IT world are still unaware of exactly what MySQL is and how it compares to other existing database technologies. D. Britt Johnston, CTO of NuSphere, a Massachusetts company that sells its own MySQL version, helps shed some light on the technology in this interview.

Currently vice president of engineering at Metapa, an infrastructure service provider with an office in Los Angeles, Wook has deployed a number of Open Source programs, not least among them, Linux, MySQL and gcc. Previously, as director of (digital) engineering for effects house Digital Domain, he helped bring Linux to prominence by choosing it as a tool in manufacturing the spectacular effects in such big-screen blockbusters as James Cameron's epic, Titanic.

Theo deRaadt, Todd Miller, Angelos Keromytis, and Werner Losh, discuss several topics, including the evolving distinction between Linux and BSD and the notion that reliability and security are achieved through simplicity.

The 0.4.0 interim release of OpenNMS is a warning shot. The new open source systems management solution puts the commercial systems management software market on the spot. It asks big vendors such Hewlett-Packard and Computer Associates a tough question: Can proprietary software keep pace with advances in technology as well as open source software can?

As a small company, Anderson said, BSDi's engineers handled the security aspects of the software, but as the company became bigger, it often became assumed that someone else did it. Nevertheless, the security tradition continues: "In general, what we ship with our products contain the newest security patches."

"I think Linux will become dominant before it is really ready technically for the end users. And the reason I believe that is because I now think that Microsoft monopoly is going to collapse ... in the near future."